The Messerschmitt Bf 162 was a

light bomber A light bomber is a relatively small and fast type of military bomber aircraft that was primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance. The earliest light bombers were intended to dr ...

aircraft designed in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, which flew only in prototype form.

Design and development

The Bf 162 was designed in response to a

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

RLM (''Reichsluftfahrtministerium'', Reich Aviation Ministry) specification for a ''schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") for tactical use. Messerschmitt's design was a modified Bf 110 with a glazed nose to accommodate a bombardier. In

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

, three prototypes were flown against rival designs, the

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the ''Luftwaffe'' and became one o ...

and the Henschel Hs 127, both entirely new aircraft. It was eventually decided that the Ju 88 be selected for production, and development of the Bf 162 ended. As a

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

tactic, images of the Bf 162 were widely circulated in the German press, captioned as the "Messerschmitt Jaguar", a name never used outside this context. This aircraft's RLM official airframe number of ''8-162'' was later re-used for the

Heinkel He 162 Heinkel Flugzeugwerke () was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, wit ...

jet fighter.

Specifications (Bf 162)

References

*Green, William. ''Warplanes of the Third Reich''. New York:Doubleday, 1972. . *Wagner, Ray and Heinz Nowarra. ''German Combat Planes: A Comprehensive Survey and History of the Development of German Military Aircraft from 1914 to 1945''. New York: Doubleday, 1971.

External links

German Aviation 1919 - 1945
{{RLM aircraft designations Bf 162 1930s German bomber aircraft Abandoned military aircraft projects of Germany Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1937 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft Twin-tail aircraft Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear

Design and development

Specifications (Bf 162)

See also

References

External links